Voting underway for MP Lok Sabha by-poll

Voting has been held amid tight security for by-elections to the Betul Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh.

Voting was held amid tight security for by-elections to the Betul Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday. Only 17 per cent polling was recorded till noon, official sources said.The polling, which started at 8 am, will end at 5 pm.

No untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the tribal dominated constituency, the by-poll for which was necessitated after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Vijay Khandelwal passed away last November.

More than 1.096 million voters, including over 520,000 women, would decide the fate of 14 candidates, including Hemanth Khandelwal of the BJP, Sukhdeo Panse of the Congress and Sunilam of the Samajwadi Party. There are 1,219 polling centres, of which 332 are declared sensitive.

The borders of the two districts - Betul and Harda - under which the constituency falls were sealed on Thursday.

Eight battalions of the Special Armed Force (SAF) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), besides more than 3,000 men of the state police have been deployed to ensure free and fair poll.

Twenty-four teams comprising gazetted police officers have also been put on poll duty. Counting would take place April 16 and the results are expected the same day.